11 Good Excuses to Miss Work in Advance

Looking for some good excuses to miss work in advance? We’ve all been there, which is why we wanted to create this list to help you.

OK, so we are all familiar with some of the most common, or should we say overused excuses to miss work for a day like – my grandma died, I have diarrhea, stomach cramps, and similar ‘sicking’ excuses, family troubles, flat tires, traffic, stuck in an elevator, etc. There are a million excuses people come up with everyday,  some of them are good as excuses for missing work last minute, some of them for missing work and not calling, and so on. But none of these can be used in advance. I mean, you can’t really say I will have diarrhea on August 23^rd, so I’ll need a day off. Or that your grandma is going to die on that precise date. Or maybe you can, if you really like to provoke your boss. In that case, you should seek some good advice for finding a new job.

What came as a surprise to us when researching for this article is that many people think that you shouldn’t use any excuse at all. There are actually many honest people on this planet, who don’t like to lie and are really hardworking. Who would’ve thought that? We agree that lying is generally not good, but a small innocent lie on occasion is something all of us use. Whether it is for not meeting a friend because you are just too tired, and you say you have some other duties, or an excuse for being late again, and so on. These are not so bad. And neither are those excuses on our list below.

So, are there any good excuses to call off work the day before, or even months before? Yes, there are. We’ve browsed the internet in search of them, and found some really good forums and websites that were discussing all kinds of excuses to help you avoid showing up at work. We used some suggestions from Quora, Yahoo Answers, Monster to name a few. Although these sources mainly listed excuses that can’t be used in advance, we’ve managed to pick out 10 that can; some of them can help you get a half a day free, some of them will earn for you even a couple of days off.  If you don’t need only excuses for in advance, but all kinds of explanations for ditching work, then check some Good Believable Excuses for Missing Work we collected a few months ago.

Before you try one of these good excuses for missing work in advance we prepared for you, note what people on forums always advise – not to get into too much details. This is something we found on many sources discussing this topic. So, apparently, inexperienced liars are talking too much and developing a story, that can end up too complicated. Hence, you should just imagine that your excuse is really the truth, and try saying it like that. When we are telling the truth, we usually don’t talk too much, because we don’t try to look believable, we are believable. Easier said than done, right? Well, all it takes is practice.

Eager to start practicing to find the good excuses to miss work in advance? Just click on Next.

11. Dentist Appointment

Possible variation – physician appointment

Most of the people really hate going to the dentist. If your boss is one of them, then they can relate to your pain, and give you a day off. If the boss asks you why didn’t you schedule your dentist appointment during non-working hours, you can say something like this was the only available time my dentist had, before taking a holiday, and that you are having a toothache for a while and can’t miss it. In any case, you should at least get half a day free.

10. I’ve Earned It

Yup, a bold one. Yes, we admit it, this is not an excuse, but a request. Anyway, we had to include it on our list, because we saw this as a recommendation on many forums, and it seemed like a valid one. If you are a hard working fellow, never missed a day at work, never called sick, and are very important to your company’s success, then you really did earn it. Of course, not everyone should try this excuse, but only those that are really good workers, and are pretty sure of how their boss could react. It is a gamble. But, without the risk there is no gain, right?

9. Stay Home for a Delivery

To me, this sounds like a pretty lame excuse, but because of it being so lame, I would maybe believe it. I mean, waiting for a special package that no one else can help you with? Who would come up with this stuff?  Apparently someone. You can say that you ordered some expensive piece of furniture and that is being delivered on Friday between 11 and 14h. Hey, when you put it like this, it sounds real. Yes, you’ve noticed well – it won’t provide you with the whole day off, but half a day is more than enough sometimes, isn’t it?

8. Personal Day

This is another excuse that request from you to be somewhat bold. It is not like “I’ve earned it” exactly, but is has some similarities. Let’s face it, if you ask for a personal day, and you say you don’t feel comfortable talking about it more than that, chances are you are going to get it. Of course, you shouldn’t use this excuse many times.

7. Elective Surgery

If you say you have scheduled elective surgery, you should get a couple of days off. This is definitely one good excuse to miss work in advance. If your boss isn’t too strict and doesn’t ask for any proof, anyway. So, what kind of surgery? The options are numerous. It can be a cosmetic surgery. You can, for example, say that you are removing your tattoo. And since your tattoo is not in any place easily visible, we are sure that no one is going to ask “from where” or for any proof that you actually removed it.

6. Going to Court

Similar variation – jury duty

We are continuing our list of good excuses to miss work in advance with one that implies saying you have to go to court because you had a speeding ticket or something can go smoothly, especially if your boss also likes to drive fast. If that is the case, you will have no trouble with this one at all. Jury duty is a similar variation, which you can save for some other time.

5. 50th Anniversary of Grandparents

And we came to the group of very popular excuses, and those are family related excuses. These are all of the “happy” kind of excuses, because they are in advance, and you can’t really plan your uncle dying in 10 days (which is an example of a sad excuse). But, fortunately, you can plan your grandparents 50^th anniversary. It is a nice occasion, and every boss should be understanding when it comes to family, which is why this is one of really good excuses to miss work in advance.

4. Grandma’s 90th Birthday

Another one from this group on our list of good excuses to miss work in advance. Yes, I have an old grandma and she is turning 90. No one should miss blowing 90 candles on the cake, right? All in all, this is very believable excuse, and with it, you should get a day off without any troubles and further questions.

3. Festival/ Religious Event

What we also learned from these forums is that family and religion have great importance. Health as well, of course, but as we said before when it comes to planned excuses you can’t really use those health-related, except a few variations of it, but we covered that already (dentist appointment and elective surgery).  We’ve also covered some family related, so it is time for a religion-oriented excuse. Since religion is always a very delicate topic, chances are your boss won’t ask for more details, and will set you free on that particular day. Now, let’s see the top two entries on the list of good excuses to miss work in advance.

2. Christening of a Nephew

This is just the perfect combo that ranks 2nd on our list of good excuses to miss work in advance, don’t you think? It is both family- and religion-oriented. You just can’t miss it with this one. Whoever is your boss, they are probably going to cave under this excuse.

1. The best excuse is always the truth

I know, I know, this doesn’t sound so good. But we had to put it in the first place on this list of 10 good excuses to miss work in advance because this was one was recommended many times. And, when you think about it, this is not bad advice at all. If you have a normal boss anyway. If you are lucky and have a good relationship with your boss, if you share mutual respect, and you are a good employee, telling the truth might really be the best excuse ever. A good boss should know that being good to their employees is the best way to keep them motivated. If they get the break, they’ll work harder. So, go for it, give your boss a chance to be a good boss, and save yourself from all the troubles lying can cause.

These were the suggestions we’ve found, please leave some comments and tell us what do you think, share your experiences, and give us more ideas! We all need good excuses to ditch the work from time to time, even us, here at Insider Monkey.